The western tradition of rodeo attracts tens of millions of fans – and curious tourists – in states like Texas, California, Colorado, Florida, Oklahoma and Wyoming, among others. But animal rights groups argue that this part of US heritage belongs in the past.

To say that
animal welfare organizations and rodeos do not see eye-to-eye is an
understatement. For one side, it is a cruel act of animal abuse. For the other,
it is an entertaining and competitive sports event that is part of their
culture

There is
next to nothing upon which the two sides agree – except perhaps, they would
both say they care for animals.

“We have 60
rules that cover the care and handling of the animals,” said Cindy Schonholtz,
director of industry outreach for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), which sanctions about 600
rodeos each year in the United States and Canada, a small percentage of the
estimated 10,000 rodeos held each year in the US. PRCA instituted its first animal
protection rules in 1947, and today regulations include having a veterinarian
on site at all events, removing animals from competition that are not healthy
or are injured, wrapping the horns on steers to protect their heads and using
spurs that are not sharp.

Lindsay
Rajt, associate director of campaigns and outreach at People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA),
couldn’t disagree more. “All the rules that are in the rodeo really exist to
protect the rider and not the animal,” she said. “Their rules are like a manual
on how to abuse animals.”

PETA
objects to the use of electric prods and devices such as bucking straps, which go
around an animal’s abdomen. With these devices, Rajt said, the
rodeos are “taking animals that are normally tame, docile animals and then
provoking them … to be fierce and aggressive”. Other animal welfare groups, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(ASPCA), also object to rodeos. The ASPCA calls them “a cruel form of entertainment that involves the painful, stressful and
potentially harmful treatment of livestock”.

The rodeo
association’s Schonholtz countered that prods are used sparingly to move
livestock in open areas. Once an animal is in a chute, the small space where an
animal is held just before it enters the ring, she said, a prod can only be
used on the shoulder of a horse if the judge, contestant and owner of the
animal all agree that it is needed because a horse will not leave the chute.
“It can be very dangerous in the chute… our goal is to get that animal safely
out.” The PRCA would, obviously, like to keep having rodeos – it estimates
about 30 million people attend them annually in the United States. PETA,
however, wants a complete ban on rodeos. Period. “I think anytime animals are
being used for profit, you’re going to see [their] welfare suffer,” Rajt said.

PETA said that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has “a de facto ban” on rodeos, because it
prohibits several devices, including prods and bucking straps. Napa County,
California, doesn't allow rodeos in unincorporated areas of the county. Other
jurisdictions prohibit certain devices or events, such as horse-tripping, which is just as it
sounds, tripping a galloping horse by roping its legs. Six states prohibit
horse-tripping, and the PRCA does not have that event at its rodeos.

Schonholtz said complete bans on rodeos are generally
in places that “don’t
have rodeos and haven’t seen them and don’t understand them”. She acknowledged that the industry has a challenge
in reaching out to the general public, which is more and more urbanized and
less and less familiar with steers, broncos and how to tie a lasso. “But that’s
also the attraction of the sport – people don’t get to see bulls and horses
every day, so people want to come see them,” she said

The Catalonia region of Spain banned its long-held
tradition of bullfighting in September 2011, but, as to be expected, PETA and
the PRCA disagree on whether there are any parallels to be drawn between
bullfighting and rodeos.

“In both
cases, you’re taking an animal and you’re tormenting that animal to make him
look fierce and aggressive in the ring,” Rajt said. Plus, people advocate for
both bullfighting and rodeos on a cultural basis, she said.

But
Schonholtz has a different take: “Bullfighting and rodeo are so far removed,” she
said. “Their goal is to kill the animal; our goal is to keep our animals
healthy.”

Correction:
A previous version of this article included an incorrect listing from PETA, which said that St Petersburg, Florida; Fort Wayne, Indiana; San
Francisco and Napa County, California ban rodeos. This has been corrected above. Napa doesn't allow rodeos in unincorporated areas of the county. San Francisco requires a permit, and Fort
Wayne has regulations on rodeos and requires a permit on every animal
event. The police legal staff of St Petersburg was unable to find
any ordinance on the books pertaining to rodeos.